Elizabeth Warren believes it is beside the point that she lied last weekend when she said Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson “murdered” 18-year-old Michael Brown.
The Massachusetts senator and presidential candidate was pressed this week to respond to critics who have called her out for claiming falsely that a white police officer in 2014 “murdered” a black Ferguson, Missouri, man. “What matters is that a man was shot, an unarmed man, in the middle of the street, by police officers and left to die,” Warren responded Wednesday. “And I think that’s where our focus should be.”
In other words: The important thing is that someone is dead. Never mind that he was killed while assaulting someone. And just ignore the part where I exacerbated racial tensions and inflamed anti-law enforcement sentiment.
For reference, the 2020 Democrat tweeted last weekend: “5 years ago Michael Brown was murdered by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri. Michael was unarmed yet he was shot 6 times. I stand with activists and organizers who continue the fight for justice for Michael. We must confront systemic racism and police violence head on.”
If you ask me, a White House hopeful ought not to play fast and loose with the facts of a case of national import. In fact, that sort of thing should be condemned and stamped out in the harshest way possible. But don’t take just my word for it — that’s also Warren’s opinion, at least when it comes to President Trump.
5 years ago Michael Brown was murdered by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri. Michael was unarmed yet he was shot 6 times. I stand with activists and organizers who continue the fight for justice for Michael. We must confront systemic racism and police violence head on.
— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) August 9, 2019
A politician lying about the facts of the Brown case is dangerous enough as is. But Warren’s remarks take on an especially grotesque flavor when one considers that her professional background is in law. She knows the difference between a “murder” and a justified shooting in self-defense. When Warren claimed Wilson “murdered” Brown, she knew exactly what she was doing — making a cynical, devious play for Democratic primary votes by indulging left-wing conspiracy theorists in their entrenched fury.
